Subaru finds organized inspection data manipulation

April 30, 2018

Tokyo- Subaru Corp. said Friday it has concluded that fuel economy and emission data of new Subaru vehicles were manipulated during preshipment inspections in an organized way at its mainstay plants in Gunma Prefecture, eastern Japan.

In a report it submitted to the transport ministry the same day, Subaru said that it has confirmed data manipulation for at least 903 vehicles and that the data falsification was carried out at the instructions of chief inspectors at the plants.

Still, the major Japanese automaker denied quality problems, claiming that the vehicles in question satisfied regulatory standards under the original inspection data.

The report was submitted by Subaru President Yasuyuki Yoshinaga to Tetsuya Okuda, director-general of the ministry's Road Transport Bureau.

Since any inspection data manipulation will cause a sense of distrust among the public against automakers, "such wrongdoing should never happen," Okuda said, urging Subaru to comply fully with regulations.

"We're very sorry for causing so much trouble and concern," Yoshinaga said at a press conference at the company's head office in Tokyo. "Accomplishing reforms is my management responsibility," the president added, stressing his resolve to make all-out efforts to prevent similar wrongdoing.

The manipulation was discovered during voluntary checks that Subaru conducts on some of its finished vehicles.

The 903 vehicles were among 6,939 units covered by such checks between December 2012 and November 2017. A total of nine models were affected by the manipulation, including the Forester, the Legacy and the Impreza.

Inspectors at the plants falsified the data when mileage and emission data measurement results showed variations, according to the automaker.

The report said that division chiefs and higher managerial employees, and company executives were not aware of the data manipulation.

The wrongdoing may have started no later than 2002.

In some cases, data were falsified to show worse figures than the actual results, the report said.

Analyzing the motives for the manipulation, the report said the wrongdoing may have been an attempt to avoid giving explanations for data variations.

On preventive measures, Subaru said it will utilize external auditing and strengthen employee education.

At Subaru, it came to light in October last year that unqualified employees conducted preshipment inspections of finished vehicles. Jiji Press